Why did you first visit Thailand

[Rayq81]

Some great responses, on the question of how many have married ex bar girls I would say its probably not that important to this thread.

[marjamlew]

UMAP - University Mobility Asia Pacific, kindly sponsored by the Department of The Prime Minister and Cabinet, Commonwealth of Australia in the early 1990s. I could have been sent to South Korea or PNG but lucked out on Khon Kaen University, Faculty of Education as a 24 year old graduate student. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I had.
Met my first Thai Mrs, a fellow graduate student, second day there and lasted a bit over 10 years. Still in touch - great girl. Met my current wife in a bar 9 years ago and we have been happily living in Australia for the last 8 years.
Been a roller coaster ride of love and hate from the people's constitution of 97 to the massacres of 2010 and from personal experiences with the dreaded brothers, mothers and father in laws (first wife only) along the way.
People I met in Udon when I lived there were/are some of the best blokes and mates I've ever had. Larger than life characters who gathered at Steve's Bar, Mr Tongs, Harry's Bar, Yellow Bird and farang alley. Poms, Scots, Welshman. Belgians, Kiwis and Yanks who all enriched my life and provided me with laughs and memories that will last forever.
We have an Aussie son who has no affiliation or affection for his mum's homeland and we want to give him a western education with all of the advantages that it offers so we won't be back full time until I'm far too old and crusty to relive my Khon Kaen and Udon youth.

[rick]

Redundancy filled the bank account and i wanted to do some fishing. Never knew i would be the fish!

[saint]

UMAP - University Mobility Asia Pacific, kindly sponsored by the Department of The Prime Minister and Cabinet, Commonwealth of Australia in the early 1990s. I could have been sent to South Korea or PNG but lucked out on Khon Kaen University, Faculty of Education as a 24 year old graduate student. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I had.
Met my first Thai Mrs, a fellow graduate student, second day there and lasted a bit over 10 years. Still in touch - great girl. Met my current wife in a bar 9 years ago and we have been happily living in Australia for the last 8 years.
Been a roller coaster ride of love and hate from the people's constitution of 97 to the massacres of 2010 and from personal experiences with the dreaded brothers, mothers and father in laws (first wife only) along the way.
People I met in Udon when I lived there were/are some of the best blokes and mates I've ever had. Larger than life characters who gathered at Steve's Bar, Mr Tongs, Harry's Bar, Yellow Bird and farang alley. Poms, Scots, Welshman. Belgians, Kiwis and Yanks who all enriched my life and provided me with laughs and memories that will last forever.
We have an Aussie son who has no affiliation or affection for his mum's homeland and we want to give him a western education with all of the advantages that it offers so we won't be back full time until I'm far too old and crusty to relive my Khon Kaen and Udon youth.

Forgive my ignorance , but are you not the same person who said , not over a week ago that , and i quote .
Thais hate alt right , old , male , white trash immigrants .
Yet you managed to find at least two that didnt ! and that some of your best mates and times were had in Udon , presumable with a few knuckle draggers no doubt .
It would appear that you are a little confused . certainly contradictory .

[Laan Yaa Mo]

I wanted to visit Burma and had to get a ticket in Bangkok. Nothing was available so I went to Chiang Mai because I was told that there was a lot of Burmese influence in the north of Thailand. The North, which had been an independent political entity - Lanna) had been ruled by Burma for close to 300 years before the Siamese took over.

Thats very interesting, did you ever get to visit Burma ?

Yes, I have visited Burma four times as part of sidetrips from Thailand. The first three times took place in the eighties when I was living in Chiang Mai. In those days a visitor to Burma was limited to one week, and to Rangoon, Pagan, Maymyo, Mandalay, Yawnghwe and Inle Lake.

My wife and I went from Khon Kaen to Myanmar with a Thai tour last August. We went to Yangon, Bago, and Kyaikhtiyo.

It is a fascinating country with an interesting, culture, sites and people.

As Kipling wrote, "This is Burma, and it will be quite unlike any land you know about".

[marjamlew]

UMAP - University Mobility Asia Pacific, kindly sponsored by the Department of The Prime Minister and Cabinet, Commonwealth of Australia in the early 1990s. I could have been sent to South Korea or PNG but lucked out on Khon Kaen University, Faculty of Education as a 24 year old graduate student. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I had.
Met my first Thai Mrs, a fellow graduate student, second day there and lasted a bit over 10 years. Still in touch - great girl. Met my current wife in a bar 9 years ago and we have been happily living in Australia for the last 8 years.
Been a roller coaster ride of love and hate from the people's constitution of 97 to the massacres of 2010 and from personal experiences with the dreaded brothers, mothers and father in laws (first wife only) along the way.
People I met in Udon when I lived there were/are some of the best blokes and mates I've ever had. Larger than life characters who gathered at Steve's Bar, Mr Tongs, Harry's Bar, Yellow Bird and farang alley. Poms, Scots, Welshman. Belgians, Kiwis and Yanks who all enriched my life and provided me with laughs and memories that will last forever.
We have an Aussie son who has no affiliation or affection for his mum's homeland and we want to give him a western education with all of the advantages that it offers so we won't be back full time until I'm far too old and crusty to relive my Khon Kaen and Udon youth.

Forgive my ignorance , but are you not the same person who said , not over a week ago that , and i quote .
Thais hate alt right , old , male , white trash immigrants .
Yet you managed to find at least two that didnt ! and that some of your best mates and times were had in Udon , presumable with a few knuckle draggers no doubt .
It would appear that you are a little confused . certainly contradictory .

I'm not an alt right, old, male, white trash immigrant, knuckledragger and neither were/are any of the people I was thinking of in the above post. They were/are all free thinkers who embrace the live and let live ethos and therefore thrive within their communities. So the fact that Thai's hate the old, male, white trash neanderthals stands.
I always have and always will treat all Thai women with respect, kindness and goodwill no matter their position within the Thai hierarchy so have never had a problem with any of them including the two you mention. I even treated those men and women within the Thai Muslim community I lived in in Pattani as equals and comrades and never had a problem with them either. Usually if you give respect you get it back in my experience. No confusion or contradiction.

[saint]

Nice speech . Wow , no wonder you had so many friends . You sound almost perfect . Except for your ageist and racist comments . But please spare me the lecture on respect , ive already worked out your level of respect by your posts here . Thankyou .

[Lone Star]

UMAP . . .

Forgive my ignorance , but are you not the same person who said , not over a week ago that , and i quote .
Thais hate alt right , old , male , white trash immigrants .
Yet you managed to find at least two that didnt ! and that some of your best mates and times were had in Udon , presumable with a few knuckle draggers no doubt .
It would appear that you are a little confused . certainly contradictory .

Hypocrisy is common among the finger-wagging Leftists. I blocked that ignorant boob's posts a long time ago.

[Lone Star]

Years before I retired, I searched for a place to live where I was compatible with the culture and society. The single-most purpose in my travel was to find a place where I could retire and stay retired. Bang for the buck. I spent 5 years in that search. End of story.

[marjamlew]

Time to live and let die I guess. Enjoy your retirement. Try not to let your fear of difference poison you and spoil your happiness. Lose the hate. Life's too short.

[SaneMax]

I was going to visit Malaysia for a couple of months, thought I'd take a few weeks holiday before hand. Was planning to go to India. As I looked up cheap flights on-line one site had an anywhere button, I clicked on it and the rest is history.

I got a stupid priced flight, £180, I think, and did a month tour Bangkok, Udonthani, Pattaya, Hui Hin and further south, I was hooked.

[747man]

Well For The Temples why else Sayin' NO More.....

[goodison]

I was surveying on the Selby coalfield. The company asked if I was ready to go abroad again? My reply was : "As long as it's Thailand. Next thing I knew I was in Bangkok en route for Sukhothai to join the seismic crew on contract to Shell Oil Exploration and Production (THAILAND). That was in February 1980. tHE REST AS THEY SAY IS hISTORY!

[saint]

Time to live and let die I guess. Enjoy your retirement. Try not to let your fear of difference poison you and spoil your happiness. Lose the hate. Life's too short.

You just cant let it go with any dignity can you . Just gotta get the final dig in ah . What a sad individual you are . The only thing that poisons me is your bile . Yes , ive had well over a decade of retirement thankyou , and enjoyed pretty much everyday of it , which is funny really what with my fear of difference , cuz everyone knows Thailand is just like the south of England . As for the hate , another of your wonderful assumptions . i do not hate anyone , or anything . Its an emotion i refuse to waste one second on .
Finally life is very short , yes . If you stopped being such an arse, then who knows , you may well live to be as old as i .

[marjamlew]

Only if I'm lucky.

[dunroaming]

Well For The Temples why else Sayin' NO More.....

Alan maybe the temples now lol but originally we are talking about

[yartims]

after hearing murrey head doing 1 nite in bangkok i was curious what was going on and then mates told me about the temples of love in patters and thermae 1 goings on and it was a blast..i was having trouble with this scatty divorcee at the time so it was all true..back in the 80s

[yartims]

sitting in the kings castle for the 1st time in ones life and murrey head was being played as it had just been issued on 45 vinyl .well it was the best time of ones life.. never to be repeated whatever stickman might claim ..then over to the back door of the thermae around midnight and ones spincter was twitching at the delights in store .never to be repeated as its history .in the days before the skytrain and McDs and fast food outlets such as swinsons

[yartims]

One Night in Bangkok
Murray Head
Bangkok, Oriental setting
And the city don't know that the city is getting
The creme de la creme of the chess world
In a show with everything but Yul Brynner
Time flies doesn't seem a minute
Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it
All change don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue
It's Iceland or the Philippines or Hastings or
Or this place!
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me
One town's very like another
When your head's down over your pieces, brother
It's a drag, it's a bore, it's really such a pity
To be…

[pipoz4444]

I went to Bangkok because my Mates did.

But three out of five of us, all made the same mistake and took our Wives with us

All three of us have since got Divorced? Is this coincidence or just good luck

pipoz4444